Feb. 13, 1970: Eight teenagers are killed when the van they are in is struck by a freight train. The van had stalled on Highway 120 on the Western Pacific tracks west of Manteca.

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Area's worst accidents

Feb. 13, 1970: Eight teenagers are killed when the van they are in is struck by a freight train. The van had stalled on Highway 120 on the Western Pacific tracks west of Manteca.

Aug. 10, 1991: Eight youths, ages 15-21, are killed when the truck in which all eight were riding struck another pickup head-on on Highway 4 west of Byron.

Dec. 11, 1997: Five people are killed, including two from Stockton and one from Lodi, and 26 injured in a massive pileup on fog-shrouded Interstate 5 near Hood-Franklin Road involving 27 cars and nine big rigs.

May 8, 2007: Six people are killed when their Chevrolet Geo Tracker was struck by an Amtrak passenger train near Riverbank. The SUV appeared to be trying to get off the tracks after the crossing arm came down, but witnesses said the driver appeared to have panicked and was unable to move it in time.

May 26, 2013: Five men die when the SUV in which they were riding goes into the water off Lower Jones Road near Bacon Island. The driver escapes.

- Record research by librarian Delailah Little

» Social News

LODI - A witness provided heartbreaking new details Wednesday while investigators kept working to determine the cause of a horrific crash that killed six members of one family, police said.

The deadly collision occurred at 5:21 p.m. Tuesday at South Ham Lane and West Vine Street, a busy intersection in front of Lodi Middle School. The crash involved two sport utility vehicles, two trucks, a minivan and a sixth vehicle that was parked nearby, authorities said.

Twelve people were injured or killed, including two who remained hospitalized in critical condition Wednesday night. Lt. Sierra Brucia, a spokesman for the Lodi Police Department, said it was one of the deadliest crashes in the city's history.

"I've talked to people who have been here up to 25 years, and nobody can remember a collision that had this many fatalities," Brucia said. "It's just an absolute tragedy. There's no other way to describe it. I think the reality of the situation is really starting to hit home for a lot of people today."

The crash killed six members of a family from Guerrero, Mexico, said Mariana Carine Tyler of the Mexican Consulate in Sacramento. She identified the dead as Viviana Rodriguez, 31, and her unborn child; Luis Miranda, 30; Irving Miranda, 11; Jose Miranda, 7; and Stephanie Miranda, 5. Another member of the family, a 9-year-old boy, remained in critical condition Wednesday night, police said.

Tommy Morn, a 34-year-old Lodi resident who witnessed the crash, said a brown SUV ran a red light while traveling "way above" the posted 40 mph speed limit. Morn said other witnesses told him the driver was also using a cellphone.

"He was going really fast," said Morn, a medical courier who picks up specimens and lab work from Lodi Memorial Hospital, which is a block from the crash site. "I don't know how fast he was going, but the impact was really bad."

The driver of that vehicle, identified only as a 28-year-old man, was in critical condition Wednesday, authorities said. Brucia said police were investigating witness accounts.

"That's part of our investigation," Brucia said. "We're trying to track down all the witnesses who said they might have seen him talking on the phone or texting or that his speed may have been over the speed limit."

Uyli Ocampo, 15, a relative of the victims, expressed sadness and anger over the loss of her loved ones.

"It's not fair that the guy who provoked the accident didn't die," she said. "Why them and not the guy who caused the accident? It's just not fair for them."

Morn said a number of victims were ejected from a white Ford pickup, which was carrying Luis Miranda, Rodriguez and their children. He said there were bodies strewn about a 100-foot stretch of South Ham Lane.

Police, firefighters and paramedics were dispatched immediately, authorities said. They were aided by doctors and nurses who rushed to the scene from the hospital.

Morn recalled seeing a nurse who walked away with tears in his eyes after he was unable to resuscitate one of the boys. He also watched doctors perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Rodriguez in an attempt to save her and her unborn baby.

"I still have this image of the doctors pumping her stomach," Morn said. "I just can't get it out of my mind."